In all, more than 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) have been added to the campus, which includes the art museum, circus museum, and Ca' d'Zan, the Ringlings' mansion, which has been restored, along with the historic Asolo Theater. New additions to the campus include the Visitor's Pavilion, the Education, Library, and Conservation Complex, the Tibbals Learning Center complete with a miniature circus, and the Searing Wing, a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) gallery for special exhibitions attached to the art museum.[5]

Ringling willed his property and art collection, plus a $1.2 million endowment, to the State of Florida upon his death in 1936. However, for the next 10 years the museum was opened only irregularly and not maintained professionally, Ca' d'Zan was still used privately and not opened to the public, while the State fought with Ringling's creditors over the estate (Ringling was nearly bankrupt at his death; Florida would finally prevail in court in 1946). Even after prevailing in court, the Florida Department of State (who had initial responsibility for the Museum) did virtually nothing to manage the endowment or maintain the property, while the local community (believing the Museum to be the State's responsibility) did little to support the Museum. By the late 1990s Ca' d'Zan was falling apart (as were the exterior footpaths and roads), the Museum had a serious roof leak plus its security systems were wholly inadequate to protect its collection, and the Asolo Theater building was actually condemned, while the $1.2 million endowment had grown to only $2 million.[7]

The State of Florida finally transferred responsibility of the Museum to Florida State University in 2000.[2] As part of the reorganization it created a Board of Trustees consisting of no more than 31 members, of which at least 1/3rd must be residents of either Manatee or Sarasota Counties.[8]

In 2002 it appropriated $42.9 in construction funds, with one major condition – the Museum had to raise $50 million in private sector support within five years; the Museum raised $55 million by the deadline.[7]

In January 2007, a $76-million expansion and renovation of the Museum of Art was finished. A new Arthur F. and Ulla R. Searing Wing was added—the new wing being the final component of a five-year master plan that has transformed the museum. It is now the sixteenth largest in the United States.[5]

Aside from the art museum, the estate also contains the Ringling's mansion, Ca' d'Zan, Mable Ringling's rose garden, the Circus Museum and Tibbals Learning Center, the historic Asolo Theater, the Ringling Art Library, the Secret Garden, gravesite of John and Mable Ringling and the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.

Cà d'Zan, (Venetian for "House of John"), is the waterfront residence built for Mable and John Ringling. The mansion was designed by architect Dwight James Baum with assistance from the Ringlings, built by Owen Burns, and was completed in 1926.

It is designed in Venetian Gothic style. Overlooking Sarasota Bay, the mansion became the center for cultural life in Sarasota for several years.[9] The residence was restored in 2002 under the direction of Bill Puig.

Mable Ringling’s rose garden was completed in 1913 while she and John were living in another house on the property. The rose garden is located near the original Mary Louise and Charles N. Thompson residence within the beautifully landscaped grounds overlooking Sarasota Bay. John and Mable are both buried near this garden.

The Circus Museum, established in 1948, is the first museum of its kind to document the history of the circus. The museum has a collection of handbills, posters and art prints, circus paper, business records, wardrobe, performing props, circus equipment, and parade wagons. The adjacent Tibbals Learning Center contains the Howard Bros. Circus model. Built by Howard Tibbals, this ¾-inch-to-the-foot scale replica of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1919–1938, is the "world's largest miniature circus"[10]

John Ringling owned a private railroad observation passenger car and used it from 1905 until 1917 to travel with his circus, conduct business trips in and to take vacations with. It was built by the George Mortimer Pullman Company in Pullman, Illinois. It was made of wood. It weighed 65 tons, was 79 feet long, 14 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It cost $11,325.23, this was only about half the price of a comparable Pullman car of the time, because it was outfitted with walls taken from other railroad cars. John Ringling was the youngest person in the country to own his own private rail car. He named it for his home state of Wisconsin, and because that is where his circus was quartered. John and his wife, Mable, traveled in the car on their honeymoon. When the Wisconsin traveled with the circus train, it was usually placed in the middle of the consist. The car was divided into an observation room, three staterooms, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and servants’ quarters. It was richly furnished and boasted an interior of mahogany and other woods, intricate moldings, gold-leaf stencils and stained glass throughout. The 10-foot high ceilings were painted Viva Gold, Baize Green and Fiery Brown. There were toilets in each compartment. John and Mable Ringling had a private bathroom, including a tub. The rear compartment of car was the observation room, which could be used as a lounge or as an office. At this rear end of the car was an observation platform. All the rooms got extra daylight from a clerestory of opalescent glass. When New York City, where the Ringling Circus opened its season each year, banned wooden cars from the city’s tunnels, John Ringling decided to sell the Wisconsin. Later, the car was purchased by the Norfolk Southern Railroad, which renamed it the Virginia, it used it as a business car for its railroad officials. Then it was sold to the Atlantic & East Carolina Railway, which adapted it into a fishing lodge, renamed it the Carolina and placed it in Morehead City, North Carolina. Tracked down by circus enthusiast Howard Tibbals in 1985, it was acquired by the North Carolina Transportation Museum which kept it in covered storage on its grounds in Spencer. A $417,240 federal grant awarded to the Florida Department of Transportation helped pay for restoration of the Wisconsin's exterior, carried out by the Edwards Rail Car Co. in Montgomery, Ala. The next stop for the railcar was The John and Mable Ringling Museum in Sarasota Florida. An anonymous donation of $100,000 then brought the Wisconsin's interiors back to their Gilded Age sheen, work which was done right at the Ringling Museum. The Sarasota County Parks and Recreation Department donated railroad tracks for the train car to rest on. The tracks became available as part of the Rails to Trails project. The rails were laid by volunteers from the Florida Railroad Museum located in Parrish, Florida. Instead of actually entering the car, visitors to the display at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art now walk along a raised handicap accessible platform and view into the Wisconsin's windows to admire the restored elegance of yesterday brought back to life so vividly.

The Ringling Art Library is one of the largest art reference libraries in the southeastern United States.[11] The collection of nearly 90,000 volumes includes some 800 books originally owned by John Ringling himself. The Library hosts a book club, The Literati, that meets monthly.[12] Other regular events include a Saturday for Educators Workshop series which is designed to enhance educators’ understanding of The Ringling’s collections and special exhibitions, while also providing an opportunity for networking, collaboration, and inspiration.[13] The Ringling Art Library also hosts an online blog.[14] The library is open to the public and there is a reading room for patrons to view and use materials; however, the collection is non-circulating and items cannot be checked out.[15]

In 1991, John, Mable and his sister, Ida Ringling North, were buried on the property just in front and to the right of the Ca d'Zan. It is called the secret garden and John is buried between the two women. There is a locked gate around the 3 graves and tombstones. There is a garden and statues in front of the gate. On the anniversary of John Ringling's birthday, neighboring New College students often sneak in and place a cigar on John's grave.

In the spectacular courtyard of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Michael's Wine Cellar and other venues, Forks & Corks 2016 highlights delicious and diverse cuisine from over 50 independent restaurants, alongside an international cast of ...

The Ringling, the name for the multi-faceted arts and culture campus that includes the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Historic Asolo Theater, a circus museum, bay-front gardens, an education center and the Ca' D'zan mansion, is the bedrock ...

(The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art opened in 1931.) It occupies the same building it has since 1949, which was designed in the Sarasota School of Architecture style and has been expanded over the years. The center has a robust educational ...

... particularly in West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, have found a temporary home at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. The exhibit, running from July 10 through September 13, features original black and white photographs displaying ...

He has organized a show at the Selby Gallery at the Ringling College of Art and Design, 2700 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota (note: not the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, which is further north). "Defining Abstraction" features more than 30 ...

This was only the second time they have been on public display and he said it was his intention to eventually donate them to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL. “That's where they came from and that's where they should go back ...

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art continues its Art of Our Time initiative with Appalachia USA, an exhibition from photographer Builder Levy, as he explores the Appalachian coal industry and its impacts on the people and environment with a ...

State attorney general opinions over the years have found the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation in Sarasota, the former Florida International Museum in St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (now the David A. Straz Jr.

Limit to books that you can completely read online
Include partial books (book previews)